(635e) Coal to Methanol Process Using Chemical Looping Gasification for Syngas Production and in-Situ CO2 Capture: Experimental, Thermodynamic and Techno-Economic Analysis

Methanol is an important readily-transportable intermediate which is used to produce multiple chemical products including olefins, gasoline, dimethyl ether (DME) etc. Methanol is mainly produced from natural gas, with coal based production accounting for 9% of the total world demand. The use of coal gasification to produce methanol allows for the use of domestic coal in chemical manufacturing, which provides an opportunity for producing these commodities in the United States to provide supply security and an opportunity to export to overseas markets. While coal costs tend to be low, the capital costs for gasification are high as a result of the gasification equipment and air separation unit (ASU) used for oxygen production. Further, the overall yield of a coal to methanol process is low, leading to higher costs than a natural gas based process. The Ohio State (OSU) chemical looping gasification (CLG) technology for coal gasification to methanol production application uses an optimized iron-based oxygen carrier composite particle and a co-current downward reducer reactor configuration.
The optimized iron-based OSU oxygen carrier in-conjunction with a co-current moving bed reactor significantly increases the carbon conversion efficiency for syngas production and has been experimentally validated using bench-scale tests. WorleyParons have completed a techno-economic analysis which showed that for a coal only feed with 90% carbon capture, the OSU CLG technology reduced the methanol required selling price by 21%, lowered the capital costs by 28% and increased coal consumption efficiency by 14% over the reference case. Further, using the Ohio State Chemical Looping Gasification technology resulted in a methanol required selling price which was lower than the reference non-capture case. This presentation will initially focus on the theoritical thermodynamic rationale and validating experimental results for using a co-current moving bed reducer and an optimized oxygen carrier composite. The comprehensive techno-economic analysis performed in collaboration with WorleyParsons and current research for de-risking technology gaps for a successful commercial demonstration will be discussed.